Nerve City sounds as merky and humid as a Florida swamp, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they call that state home. Jason Boyer, the man behind the band has a knack at blending garage with folk, arena rock with a dash of country and cover it all under a generous helping of reverb and fuzz.

Thanks to the bedroom production values there is this inherent creepiness to the band, especially when their songs venture far and deep into some Americana. I almost always automatically think about a horror movie where kids on a road trip get lost in the swamps of the deep south only to come across a family of cannibals or disturb some local creature thought to be an urban legend whenever I play any Nerve City songs. I’m a a big fan of the whole southern gothic feel these guys give off in spades.

The band has released an extensive collection of 7″s and cassette EPs over the past couple of years on a variety of labels.  Vancouver’s Sweet Rot recently complied and released as a self-titled Nerve City 12″ (pictured above) which collects songs released between 2007-2008 from many of those out-of-print 7″s and cassettes.

Not too much is going on in the tour department right now but I am sure theses Floridians will be in a van in by this Summer and hitting a house party/show near you. In the meantime get a taste for them with “Dogs” originally off of the Catholic School cassette.

I came across Televised Crimewave purely by chance in a English music mag I was browsing at a 5th Ave Barnes and Noble in between classes last week. There was a one paragraph blurb without a picture or even a description of the band. All that was written about was how singer Dan Wilson would constantly jump into the crowd, climb on top of monitors and dance on top of the audience’s tables. That was enough to peak my interest and made a note to myself to check out the band’s myspace page.

Televised Crimewave list a number of influences that range from The Birthday Party to Nirvana to The Talking Heads, all of which comes across in their sound. It would also not be out of line to say that these boys picked up the torch that The Libertines dropped during their implosion. The band released a single called “Listen and Repeat” just about a year ago and have since been building up their buzz in their native London and the surrounding areas.

Televised Crimewave don’t have too many shows planned as of now and it seems there’s no talk of the band heading stateside…but hopefully that will soon change. In the meantime check out this video the band made for the as of yet unreleased jam called “Kids”. And with the band listing Harmony Korine as an influence, I can’t help but assume the track is an homage of some sort to one of my favorite movies of all time…Bonus Points!

I had never heard of San Francisco trio Dadfag before being asked to pen this You Should be Listening to, now I can not stop listening to the band’s Scenic Abuse LP which I actually purchased…that doesn’t happen too often these days. Dadfag play noisy and chaotic punk while maintaining a level of listen-ability many bands with similar aspirations have failed to achieve. Many a review has compared the trio to Sonic Youth which is not far off Dadfag definitely channels the late 70s early 80s No Wave sound while managing to sneak in a healthy dose of catchyness.

Scenic Abuse the bands debut LP is out now on Broken Rekids and it does not disappoint. Unfortunately for me the band only has shows scheduled around the Bay Area right now but for all of you out in SF or Oakland you are in luck.

Until Dadfag decides to make the trip on over to the East Coast you can keep yourself occupied by watching the this 13 minute video (which I imagine is probably close to a full set.) of the band playing at the Huffin House in Oakland.

The other night I was listening to Wetdog’s latest LP “Frauhaus!” (which came out hipster hit machine Captured Tracks last year) and was thinking about just how much I liked it and how much it reminded me of something that should have come out on Kill Rock Stars circa 1993. I wasn’t the only one either I broke out my Ouija board and got in touch with my old friend Kurt Cobain who said that Wetdog is his favorite new band…pretty damn impressive if you ask me!

These London ladies play a killer mix of everything from post-punk to Twee. There’s a lot of Raincoats, Delta 5, Liliput/Kleenex to even Huggy Bear and Bratmobile going on here. It’s like I said earlier…you could take this album and pretty convincingly slip it into the 1990s Kill Rock Stars (or even K Records) catalog as either a new release or an archival reissue from the 80s and I doubt anyone would even bat an eye. But now that I think of it, Captured tracks is really reviving the feel of 90s KRS in the here and now so this is hardly surprising. But now I digress, so why don’t you just check out this lil vid above for their song “Lower Leg”.

The ladies just DJed at Topshop in London as part of their Fashion Week celebration and were the subject of a recent Nylon Band Crush which has I’m sure gone a long way in winning them the love of stylish lads worldwide. The ladies are currently gearing up to jump on a plane and make the trip over to the new world to play 4 shows during this year’s SXSW festival. The band also made some time on their schedule stateside to play a show or two in NY.  There’s currently a TBA for March 28 and a show booked at Glasslands for April 2nd. See you there!

If there we were to crown a Miss Lo-Fi, Frankie Rose would be the undisputed queen. Lets review Frankie’s resume shall we? She’s the former drummer of Shitstorm who are now known as Grass Widow. She was an original member of the Vivian Girls and happened to pen the bands break out (and best) song “Where Do You Run” before leaving to joining an other NYC Lo-Fi sensation in Crystal Stilts, only to leave them soon after. Nowadays Frankie is front and center playing guitar and singing with with her own band, Frankie Rose & The Outs.

Not unlike her previous projects, The Outs play a mix of fuzzed out 60s girl group and Twee inspired indie jams. So far they only have the Thee Only One 7″ on none other then Slumberland Records, the same label that released Crystal Stilts fantastic first LP. The Outs are in the process of recording a full length and have 7 upcoming shows, 5 of which will be in Austin during SXSW. So if your in Austin and you want to hold on to your hipness I would set aside some time for catching at least 3 of their sets.

Apache Beat has been creating quite the buzz since the Brooklyn five piece’s inception in 2006.  They play a great blend of synth-driven Indie rock that is as poppy as it is moody, and while those may be the sorts of adjectives you see thrown out for many bands, Apache Beat does it without sounding like every other band on the block. Not shocking considering front woman Ilirjana Alushaj also happens to be one half of the duo behind The Pop Manifesto magazine.

Ilirjana has one of the most captivating voices in modern pop. It’s smoky and sultry and perfectly compliments the music backing it to create some really epic tracks. Although the band has been around for about four years they have only released two 7-inches on Summer Lovers Unlimited thus far .

I’m sure Ilirjana’s duties with the Pop Manifesto, being voted one of the most stylish NYers and supporting the likes of Les Savy Fav, The Gossip and Crystal Castles keep the band pretty occupied, but we hope we get to hear a full-length from them sooner rather than later. In the meantime enjoy their video for “Tropics” up above.

There seems to be no shortage of great new UK bands with Goth and Post-Punk influences. O. Children is one that I’m absolutely loving right now. Singer, Tobias has a sweet baritone that’s thankfully not of the Ian Curtis variety, but more of the dramatic Andrew Eldritch (of Sisters of Mercy) style. Plus naming yourselves after a Nick Cave song is always a good way to get on my radar.

Right now O. Children don’t have much to their name. A split release with fellow UK Gravers S.C.U.M. and the Dead 7″, But boy is it all good! “Ace Breasts” from the split release is up on Fairtilizer to enjoy. And while that’s a good track, I’m really into “Dead Disco Dancer” (see video above) and “Dead Eye Lover”. Both songs have the sort of graveyard grooves you just don’t really hear all that often from modern bands.

O. Children also have a few clips up on YouTube of them performing the tracks live including “Lily’s Man” which isn’t on any of their releases so far. They just look a pretty great live act in general. I Don’t really know when or if these guys will ever make it stateside or record a full length, but I have my fingers crossed that both happen sooner than later.

There isn’t a wealth of info about the band or their plans on the net right now, but there is an informative (and quick) Dazed interview with singer Tobias, so get familiar!

Information on the Hackney Post-Punk trio known as Factory Floor is hard to come by but one thing is certain they without doubt one of the genre’s best kept secrets. Factory Floor plays abrasive droany Post-Punk you can’t help but listen to a full volume. The band employees vintage equipment, tape loops and of course plenty of distortion to create their dark jams. Tracks “Lying” start out minimal and distant before exploding into a mass of repetitive synths, wild drumming and screeching guitars.

Factory Floor have released a 12″ and 7″ which seem pretty hard to find (like just about everything involving this band). I must also add that there is a Factory Floor cover of “The End” by The Doors floating around the interwebz somewhere that I would love to hear. If you happen to live in or around London the band I suggest checking them out because by all the accounts we’ve heard they are one incredible live act.

Look out for Factory Floor’s new CD + DVD EP out later this month on Blast First. Definitely something we’re excited for around here!

With the opening of Мишка, Echo Park just a short whiles away its safe to say that the city of Los Angeles has been on everyone’s mind around the Мишка headquarters. So it should come as no shock that LA ’s Pearl Harbor is the focus of this edition of You Should Be Listening to. The band sound a lot like a breezy sunny day at the beach which has really been coming in handy for me because its beyond frigid here in NYC.

The sibling duo of Piper K and Skylar K crank out some of the best washed out surf rock around.  They have a CD-R, titled Wish You Were Here currently for sale on their Myspace and are releaseing a handfull of 7″s (one being on Dean Spunts PPM imprint), as well as a 12″ coming out on Art Fag.

So next time you find yourself yearning for warm weather and carefree days or just need some tunes to chill out with give Pearl Harbor a listen. And hey don’t just take our word for it, the LA Times even just wrote an article about them and all of the lovely ladies of Los Angeles Lo-Fi.

Your first time hearing Brooklyn’s Drunkdriver is probably the audio equivalent of staring into the headlights of an 18 wheeler that is half a second away from scattering you around for miles. The band plays the angriest heaviest and most distorted Hardcore Punk I’ve heard in a very long time and possibly ever. Upon first listen one might think that Drunkdriver is just noise but after you really listen you realize there is so much more going on with this band musically and lyrically and that’s when you become hooked. Drunkdriver is also an amazing live band the front man Mike is absolutely out of his fucking mind and plays with such intensity you can’t help but either run in fear or start jumping off of everything in sight.

Drunkdriver is your most deep rooted anger and resentment for anything and everything on record, they have quite a few releases, which for the most part have long sold out (but downloads are not hard to find). The band has a brand new self-titled LP out on Load Records on March 22nd that will probably make whatever you consider to be the “hardest record ever made” sound like a fucking Hanson greatest hits compilation. Record release show is on March 27th at the Market Hotel and you are not going to want to miss it …but you may want to consider bringing a helmet.